SHERLOCK
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: The Arganan heirlooms have been stolen! Mayor Arganan is very much willing to give a big reward to whoever recovers the heirlooms first, and this brings forth the competition. With seven detective duos investigating this situation at the same time, will all of them just simply keep preventing each other (no matter how intentional or not) from ever solving the case?
1. The Game is On

**Author note: I do not own the Last Story. Nor do I own the song "Sherlock" by SHINee (or the music video for the song) that inspired me to write this! XD**

**Warning: DETECTIVE AU, coarse language, violence, various pairings (including shounen-ai and shoujo-ai), and possible risque moments. More warnings will be put up later if needed.**

**Constructive Criticism would be great and I hope you read, review and enjoy! XD**

* * *

_**SHERLOCK**_

* * *

**_1\. The Game Is On_**

"Damn it! _HURRY!"_

Zael could barely catch his breath as he and Dagran rushed up the stairs, towards Mayor Arganan's office. Why were they going to Mayor Arganan's office?

Well, they'd been asked to come over. It was urgent.

And Zael and Dagran were _not _going to turn down a client. They made their living being jacks-of-all trades. From walking dogs to house-sitting, to finding lost kittens or going into the sewers to find engagement rings that people dropped, they would do it. Seriously, they would.

So they were surprised to find not just Mayor Arganan himself, but several other people in the room. The Mayor merely gestured for Zael and Dagran to join hem, and the two slowly did so. He let out a breath, adjusting the eyepatch over where his left eye would have been, before speaking.

"I am glad that all of you have arrived." He started. "All of you are aware of the Arganan heirlooms being stolen only two days ago, yes?"

The group in front of him nodded, saying nothing as they each took a file from the Mayor's desk, files containing pictures of the crime scene. The Mayor frowned, before speaking again.

"They are precious to my family line, and I need them back. As soon as possible." He continued. "Not only are they important as they belong to my descendants, however, but the Arganan ring is especially precious. It's given to the next heir of the house of Arganan, the next mayor of Lazulis. At the very least, I will need you to get the ring back, but do try to get the rest of the heirlooms back. I will pay a handsome reward to whoever recovers it first and brings it back to me."

In that instant, the room burst into a frenzy. Zael looked to Dagran, who had grabbed their file.

"You think we should stick around here?"

Dagran shook his head. "I think we should go through the file first. If we can pick something significant from there, we can start our investigation from where that piece of evidence leads us."

"Sounds good."

As the two left, the silver-haired Mayor's niece, Calista, looked to Jirall, the Rambaldt mafia boss' son and her soon-to-be-husband (they were going to get married in a month and a week from now). She saw him smirk as he ran a hand through his slicked back, greasy hair (Jirall always insisted on the greasiness, saying it made the mafia look tough, a cool kind of tough. Eventually Calista didn't mind it too much).

"I think," Jirall declared, looking to his soon-to-be-wife standing beside him, "That we should investigate. If we solve the damn case at least we'll look better as a couple in front of your Uncle."

Calista sighed a bit, nodding. "Well, that's true I suppose." She responded. "And how do you think we'll start investigating this, Jirall?"

Jirall gave her one of those smirks, a smirk that was certainly implying anything _but _an investigation. "Well," he crooned, one of his hands trailing towards her rear, "I'm thinking we can go back to my place first and...discuss things there. In private."

Calista blushed, batting his hand away from her before he could grope her. "Jirall!" The two left the room, just as Therius pushed a lock of white hair out of his face, looking to Asthar, who removed his police cap and looked to him. Neither of them really said anything to each other, but something in their eyes seemed to spell out that they were definitely going to look into this investigation as they left the room shortly after looking to each other quietly.

Two slender-looking men, with long whitish-blond hair tied back in ponytails, looked to a more muscular, red-haired man, who shrugged.

"If you two wish to investigate, Zesha and Zepha, go ahead." He spoke. "It might be in our good interest in terms of appearance if we find those heirlooms first and return them."

"Yes, sir." Both Zesha and Zepha responded, before looking to each other, Zepha speaking.

"I say we question the mayor first."

Zesha nodded. "Agreed. You talk, I'll take notes."

"Got it."

The two immediately rushed to the Mayor, Zesha taking out a notepad as Zepha began speaking.

"Excuse us, sir, but can we ask you a...couple of questions?" Zepha started, pushing a lock of hair out of his face. "We need to ask you about the night you found out the heirlooms were stolen and it may be of use to us..."

Arganan yelped in surprise at the sudden question. "U-uh...uh...okay..."

Mirania frowned as she looked at the file, and then frowned even more as her stomach growled. "Oh, I can't focus on this on an empty stomach. Syrenne, should we go to a buffet restaurant first and eat a bit? We can talk about the case there."

Syrenne chuckled, holding Mirania close to her, a soft squeak of surprise escaping the black-haired lady as Syrenne laughed. "Sounds great! Oy, can I get smashed? I mean, it could help."

Mirania sighed as the two left the office. "We'll see..."

Yurick awkwardly looked to Lowell. "You know what?" He started, "I doubt we're going to be able to talk to the mayor right now, considering those two-" He pointed to Zesha and Zepha, "Are occupying him. And the mayor is probably distressed enough already. Maybe we should talk to him later."

Lowell chuckled. "Sounds like a great plan. Let's get back to the hotel and talk more about this case, hm?"

Eventually everyone left the office...save for one red-haired mafia boss and the Mayor of Lazulis himself. Arganan raised an eyebrow as he looked to Zangurak.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked, not caring that suspicion got into his voice. "I thought you'd be investigating with Zesha and Zepha. Your lackeys. Why bother staying?"

Zangurak merely smirked. "I may have my 'lackeys' do a good amount of work, but that doesn't mean that I don't like to work solo, Mr. Mayor." He drawled, walking towards him. "Zesha and Zepha may be my best men, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're any good at solving cases involving theft. Usually we mafia are doing the stealing, not outsiders."

"Yes," Arganan huffed, "Of course. And what do you exactly want now? For the two of us to pair up so that we end up finding the heirlooms in case the others fail?"

"Actually," Zangurak responded, the smirk still framed on his face, "Yes. Think about it—not only would you get your precious heirlooms back, but the mafia will get a better image. We don't_ always_ go and fuck up society with what we do, after all. If we did, you wouldn't have Jirall and Calista marrying each other in approximately a month from now."

Arganan looked up at him, biting his lower lip. He was well aware that Zangurak was quite the dangerous mafia boss (but then again, weren't all mafia people dangerous?) but then again, this was a case regarding something as significant as the heirlooms. And help of all sorts would be appreciated right now.

"Fine. You have a deal, Zangurak. We'll work together on this."

* * *

**Author note: So, this chapter was relatively short-ish, but this chapter is probably going to be the shortest out of all the ones that follow in the next little while, so...expect slow-ish updates. XD Here's a list of all the budding pairs of detectives we'll have for this fic! XD**

**Detective Duos**

**Lowell and Yurick **

**Mirania and Syrenne **

**Zesha and Zepha **

**Asthar and Therius **

**Zael and Dagran **

**Calista and Jirall **

**Zangurak and Arganan **

**If anyone wants to guess which one is going to solve the mystery of the missing heirlooms first, go ahead! XD Again, any Constructive Criticism or reviews would be great, and I hope that you enjoyed this first chapter! Thanks for reading, and hope to see you next chapter! XD**


	2. Discussion

**_2\. Discussion_**

"Can you think of anything, Dagran?"

"Nope."

Dagran and Zael were currently hanging out in the condo they managed to buy only a couple months ago. It had been expensive, but it was worth it because they didn't have to worry about rent, at least. And the apartments in Lazulis were cramped for them—they needed more space simply for the sake of needing more space for them to run around in and put things (before the condo, they were in an apartment that was literally like a one-bedroom room they shared and another room for the bathroom and that was it).

The two sat on the couch, just staring at photos and reports included in the file about the case.

"Hm." Dagran sighed, putting a photo down on the coffee table in front of them. "I think we're going to have to sleep on this one, Zael. It's really late, and staying up wracking our minds about it isn't going to help."

Zael sighed, nodding in agreement. "Good point. Though I really don't get how the criminal could have broken into the place if even the windows were locked and everything..."

Dagran gave him a reassuring grin. "Hey, don't worry. I'm sure we'll think of something by the morning. But we should really sleep." He yawned at that.

Zael chuckled. "Yeah. We should."

* * *

"This is so delicious!" Mirania nearly squealed as she ate her third burger. Syrenne chuckled as she watched her girlfriend eat. Mirania always had a thing for eating a lot. Sure, it cut into their living expenses at their apartment currently but hey, it was food. It was worth it, especially to see her girlfriend smile like that. "Oh, Syrenne, we have to go to this place again sometime! They have some really good food here!"

Syrenne cut into a steak, taking a bite of it and chuckling a bit. "Yeah, I know. Thought it'd help to have some really good food in your stomach before we discuss the case. You looked like you were going to wilt earlier..."

Mirania nodded, blushing slightly. "Yes, I probably would have. Thank you for taking me here. I should pay you back..." Her eyes then widened. "Oh no, the rent! The rent is due in a week and I still haven't got my paycheck!"

Syrenne chuckled at that. Mirania could always be such a worrywart. "Oy, it's fine. I already got my paycheck yesterday for caring for all those dogs for the past month yesterday, remember?" She then groaned, eating another piece of steak. "I can't believe I did that. But at least we have more than enough to pay for this—and the rent, too."

"True." Mirania was the one with the stable job between the two of them, being a florist part-time. The rest of the time, the two were tying up loose ends with odd jobs here and there. It would be nice to get the reward money from Mayor Arganan. They _had _to find the Arganan heirlooms before everyone else did. "I was thinking, Syrenne, about the case...we should go to the actual place where the Arganan heirlooms were kept. If we can figure out how the thief took them without the security catching him or her, I think we could narrow down the list of possible suspects."

Syrenne grinned. "Sounds great! But first..." She looked to a waiter. "Oy! Two beers, please!"

Mirania groaned. "Syrenne..."

Meanwhile at a table not too far from them, Asthar ahd Therius were both eating quietly. Both of them could easily hear the two women, and Therius sighed after sipping some water.

"Asthar, what do you think? Of the others investigating this case? I'm not quite sure if I can trust those two brothers, Zesha and Zepha. They are in the maifa..."

"That is true. But, there must be a reason why Zangurak assigned them tot he task from the start." Asthar responded after swallowing some garlic bread he bit into. "I have the suspicion that Zangurak himself must have some motive for wanting to investigate this, for his own gain. Zesha and Zepha may be serving as a distraction while he carries this out. But we can't label him as a suspect yet—it was proven earlier that he was at this restaurant with Zesha and Zepha the night the heirlooms were stolen. They had the receipt and everything. Zangurak's mafia usually also has a signature symbol of sort that they leave behind whenever they go and commit any crimes such as vandalism and such. But this case in particular, in terms of evidence left behind was...well, nothing. So we can't just point fingers yet, Therius."

Therius bit his lower lip. "I see." He looked to Mirania and Syrenne. "Those two plan to go to the actual crime scene. Asthar, should we do so as well?"

Asthar nodded, grinning slightly. "Yes. I'm thinking, if we can find some cooperation with the others, it will help us all to find the Arganan heirlooms—and the culprit who stole them. I think it's fair to say that the two of us are more interested in catching the thief, yes?"

Therius had to smile slightly at that. "That is true. Catching the thief will be of great benefit to find the heirlooms. We find him or her, arrest him or her, interrogate them and find out where those heirlooms are. After that...we find the heirlooms and everything is set right again."

Asthar's grin widened at that. "Exactly." He chuckled a bit as he sipped a glass of wine. "As they say...the game is on."

* * *

"This is very...very..."

"Very what, brother?" Zepha asked, looking up from reading the notes that he and Zesha made from their interview with the Mayor earlier.

"Sad." Zesha finally managed. "I don't think I really wrote down enough. Or maybe the Mayor didn't say enough."

"Well," Zepha responded, flipping through a few pages, "He did look rather distressed during the interview we had with him briefly."

"Brother, I believe that 'briefly' means only a moment, not one and a half hours."

"Oh. Right."

The two stared blankly at the paper, then stared up at each other quietly.

"I think we should assume one of two things." Zepha started."

Zesha stared. "Like what?"

"Either," Zepha took out a marker and started drawing out diagrams that probably didn't make any sense with what he was saying, "Either the Mayor finds those heirlooms extremely important to him and therefore it is in our best interest to get them back to him as soon as possible, or we might have scared him during the sudden interview somehow and that might have caused him to forget some details."

Zesha looked at the diagrams (that made, still, _absolutely no sense_ since his brother was terrible at drawing) before responding. "Maybe we should assume both assumptions, brother. We should go back to interview the Mayor again. Maybe after a night's rest he can remember some more details. And..." He grinned. "That mafia heir was there at the time, too. _And _the Mayor's niece, Calista. We should talk to both of them as well if we can find them."

Zepha merely grinned. He may have self-proclaimed himself the brains of the two while Zesha was the brawn, but that didn't mean that Zesha didn't have good ideas. "That...sounds like a good plan, brother."

* * *

Yurick sighed as he stood in the shower, grabbing the bar of soap and rubbing it between his hands. He put the bar of soap down, lathering the soap on his hands all over his body.

The case was really annoying him. It really was. Why oh _why _did Lowell have to go and have him and Yurick pose as private detectives? Why not, say, paparazzi or freelance interviewers for a newspaper or something? Then they wouldn't have to take on this case and things would be so much simpler.

Being a con artist sucked sometimes, but hey, Yurick supposed that they had to do _something _that would make them some quick cash, after all.

That was when Lowell stepped into the shower. "Oy, Yurick, pass the soap, will you?"

"WHAT!?" Yurick stared at Lowell, who was, well, stark naked in the shower with him now. "What the hell are you doing in here!? Get out! I'm almost done bathing! This shower barely fits both of us, anyway!"

Lowell laughed, grabbing the bar of soap, lathering some suds in his hands as he spoke. "I was just thinking about the case, Yurick, and I have an idea." He spoke up. "You know how the heirlooms were stolen from a place they were kept? A hidden vault in a locked room? I think we should check it out."

Yurick groaned. "Well, that's nice to hear, considering you're not the brains of the two of us. I was already planning on doing it tomorrow."

Lowell gave a dramatic gasp as he putt he soap back. "What!? Oh, I'm hurt!" He gasped, feigning shock. "Yurick, we're best friends! How can you do this to me!?"

Yurick slapped his own forehead. "Lowell, do you need to be a drama queen?"

"Well—" Lowell started, regaining composure, when he looked down.

And_ stared._

Yurick blinked, before looking down awkwardly. The two then looked up at each other, silent until Lowell broke the silence.

"...Damn." The blond managed. "You're_ bigger_ than me. Why didn't you tell me about this!? I mean, I guess you kept this secret 'cause you're so shy and anti-social and all that, but seriously. If the ladies know of _this,_ you'll be a hit with them!"

Yurick blushed, failing to properly glare at the now laughing Lowell. "Shut up, Lowell."

* * *

"Jirall..."

"Hell,_ yes_...say my name, Calista..."

"Jirall, this is serious!" She pushed him away from her a bit, sighing. "We need to seriously talk about this case, Jirall, if we're going to work away at it."

Jirall groaned, pushing a few locks of hair out of his face as he lay on the bed beside her. The two were half-dressed, in heat really, and Calista was just ruining the mood now. "C-Calista—oh, come on! Seriously!?"

Calista sighed, nodding. "Yes, Jirall. I mean, the sex is fun and all, but still. We really need to take this seriously. These are the Arganan heirlooms we're talking about!"

Jirall cuddled up close to his fiance, sighing. "Alright, alright. What is it that we should do first, dear?"

Calista held him close, kissing his forehead. "We were there that night with my uncle at the opera when the heirlooms were stolen, yes?"

"Well, technically, he was at the opera watching act three of _Carmen_ while we were fucking each other in the bathroom, but yes, we were with him in a way that night. What about it?"

Calista blushed as she heard her fiance chuckle at that. "Well, the other people involved in this investigation will probably all go try to question us first. They'll want to get details. So we should talk wtih them, obviously. While they get information from us, we can get information from them."

Jirall smiled, kissing her passionately. "Now that's an idea. But how about..." One of his hands went underneath the skirt part of her dress, massaging her thigh. "How about we continue, ah, sleeping on it?"

Calista kissed him in return, embracing him closely. "That sounds like an idea..." She purred, curling up against him as the unclothing continued.

* * *

The Mayor sighed as he looked at the case file. He was getting a headache thinking about it.

That was when his cellphone rang. He growled in frustration, picking up the phone. "Yes?" He half-hissed.

A deep laugh was heard from the other end, Zangurak's voice resounding afterwards. _"I take it that you have no idea where to start with this case, do you?"_

Arganan sighed, shaking his head. "No, Zangurak, I have no idea. Any advice?"

That was when the door to his office opened, and in walked none other than Zangurak, who smirked as he held a cellphone in his hand.

"I thought you'd be here." He murmured, his eyes shifting towards Arganan with a bit of a leer.

Arganan stared at him blankly. "How the hell did you know where I was?"

Zangurak laughed as he put his cellphone in his pants pocket, approaching him. "Relax, Mayor," Zangurak sneered. "It was merely a lucky guess on my part. Though assuming that you're rather distressed over this whole case would give me an idea as of where you are. You wouldn't be resting at home. You'd be here in your office, worrying the hell out of your senses."

Arganan glared at him. "Two things. First, don't scare me like that again. Second, continue to do such crude behaviour and our little alliance is at an end."

Zangurak frowned. "Honestly, you're a stick in the mud. It's no wonder everyone thinks you're so serious." He sat down across from Arganan, putting a bottle of wine and two glasses onto the desk.

Arganan eyed the wine and glasses carefully. "Explain to me why you brought wine...?"

Zangurak grinned slightly. "I thought a loose tongue might help give the both of us information. It's helped me with clients in the past."

Arganan hesitated, before he sighed. "Fine. But you better stay with me the whole time. And...don't try to use any of this to exploit me or anything like that."

"That is understood." Zangurak opened up the bottle, pouring a good amount of wine into both glasses before handing one to Arganan. Arganan took his glass as Zangurak lifted his glass. "Cheers."

"To what?" The Mayor asked, blinking a little.

The red-haired mafia boss smirked. "To getting drunk."

Arganan smiled slightly in amusement. "Cheers."

The two clinked the wine glasses together before beginning to drink.


	3. Hangover

**_3\. Hangover_**

Arganan couldn't help but groan as he woke up. What in the hell happened last night? He faintly remembered drinking with—

Wait, wait. Never mind. He remembered what happened last night, grabbing onto the mafia boss' bare back and probably giving him scratch marks...that was part of it at least...but what came before it...?

Right. Drinking came before sex. Right. Hence the headache he had right now.

_Shit._

Arganan sat up as quickly as he could, noticing that he was lacking his left limbs. He looked around to see them propped up on the bed next to him, and he used his right hand to grab his prosthetic left arm, deciding to attach it onto himself. He had plenty of practice after a while, after all. He then looked to his left, noticing the blankets pushed away, a dent in the pillow where another head would have been. He settled his left arm onto his lap, using his right arm to feel for any warmth.

There was none. Zangurak must have left already. Made sense, Arganan figured—no one would want to wake up and help the Mayor of Lazulis City put on the artificial limbs, anyway, or stick around to chat. Especially after a one-night stand.

All those thoughts flew out the window as soon as Zangurak entered the room, deliciously shirtless and wearing nothing but pants (_Deliciously shirtless?_ Arganan would question himself later. _Really?_), while holding what appeared to be a tray full of random breakfast foods, as well as a bottle of pills meant for hangovers and two glasses of water.

"So," The mafia boss started, putting the breakfast tray down before continuing, looking to Arganan quietly. "You're awake. I made breakfast. You can thank me later."

Arganan stared at him. Did the mafia boss seriously just make him breakfast? After that one-night thing? Seriously? "I-I-" He faltered, before blurting out, "I honestly thought you left."

"And leave you in such a state where you were half needy for sex and half-stumbling all over the place?" Zangurak responded, chuckling a bit. "I don't think so. You were smashed drunk after two drinks. I drove you back to your house—"

"You drove me back?"

"Yes, I did. How else would you have gotten home, dear Mayor?" Zangurak sneered softly, a smirk still on his face. "After that, we both practically started making out as soon as we entered the house. I thought that Calista would be coming back, so I made sure to at least make it to your room before we starting stripping, but I don't think she's here yet, so that's good." He grinned. "Wouldn't be surprised if she's still being fucked by her fiance. I heard a rumour those two were already intimate."

Arganan glared at him. "Too much information." He mumbled, trying to attach his right arm on. "Did you plan on getting me drunk for sex in the end...?"

Zangurak shook his head, but before he could speak, he looked ill, before he bent over and threw up in the nearest garbage can. Arganan groaned, closing his one good eye as the smell of bile hit the air.

"Shit...that's disgusting..."

Zangurak winced. "Apologies." He muttered. "But that's practically proof that I was drunk, too, and didn't plan on fucking you. I just wasn't as drunk as you. And I drove you back, I will repeat."

Arganan didn't know what to say at first, but then he managed something. "Y-you drove me back while you were drunk!? We could have died!"

Zangurak chuckled weakly, approaching Arganan and helping him put on the prosthetic arm, before helping him with the leg. "True, true. But it was worth it. And you didn't even throw up until right after sex. I cleaned it up for you."

Arganan felt touched (figuratively and literally right now), and he couldn't help but smile slightly. "Thank you." He then frowned as he looked to the scarred, left half of his body, the prosphetic limbs, the headache starting to go away. "You...probably already know about how I got these..."

Zangurak nodded, helping him dress now. "I do know. That car crash years ago, yes? Calista miraculously survived with absolutely no injuries...and you took the full brunt of the crash."

Arganan looked down. "I was trying to get to the hospital because I heard that her parents got into an accident earlier in the day...but as soon as we could reach them, they were already dead...too much blood loss, apparently..." He let out a hollow laugh. "...I can't help but think it's my fault. I mean—"

That was when the phone rang. Arganan groaned as Zangurak growled, picking it up and snapping into it. "Yes?"

_"Uh..." _Zesha could be heard on the other end. _"Zangurak, is that you?"_

Zangurak blinked. Arganan stared at him. "Who is it?"

Zangurak winced. "Zesha and Zepha. I'll deal with them." He then spoke into the phone again. "Yes, it's me, Zesha. What the hell are you doing up this early in the morning? It's—" He looked to the nearby clock. "It's fucking five in the morning!"

_"I-I needed to schedule another appointment with Mayor Arganan. Because I think Zepha and I need more from him to say, but I think we scared him too much lst time and it caused him to forget a couple things."_

Zangurak sighed. "I'll make it happen, Zesha. At nine this morning, at the Mayor's office?"

_"Yeah, sure. Thanks!" _

Zangurak put the phone down, looking to Arganan. "Bad news, Mayor. You'll need to be in your office before nine this morning. So you have...less than four hours left, now."

Arganan groaned, lying back down in bed. "Shit_...why...?"_ He mumbled.

Zanguark chuckled, helping him sit up again. "Let's get you something to eat, first."

* * *

Lowell grinned as he walked down the hallway.

Yurick, walking beside him, looked absolutely sleep deprived.

"I could not sleep at all after you showered with me last night." He muttered. "Seriously, Lowell, you know that if I get scared easily like how you scared me in the shower last night would keep me up..."

"Aww.." Lowell ruffled Yurick's hair, chuckling as Yurick weakly raised his arms to stop him. "Hey, I'll drive on the way back to the hotel. Promise. You can sleep during then..."

As the two entered the room, they would be greeted by the sight of Mirania and Syrenne, with Syrenne looking around the room as Mirania inspected the safe.

"It wasn't broken into, Syrenne...the thief must have known the combination..." She then looked up to see Lowell and Yurick. "Oh, hello."

Syrenne turned in an instant to see Lowell and Yurick. "What the hell are you two doing here!?"

Lowell flashed a grin. "Ladies, my friend and I here just got here to investigate." He spoke, and Yurick groaned, facepalming himself as he realized that Lowell was going to try to use his wits and charm to try to get them to spill something. It helped in the past, but Yurick highly doubted that it was going to work this time. "Maybe you can help us out. Did you find anything?"

Syrenne scowled, giving him the death glare. "As if I'd tell you, you bitch."

That was when Therius and Asthar entered the room. Everyone just kind of stared at each other for a moment, silent, before Therius fake coughed, trying to focus on the case.

"Well. Hello." Therius managed awkwardly.

Syrenne did not look amused. "What the hell do you want!? Did you all spy on me and Mirania last night, you old gits!?" She snapped, giving them death glares also. "Is tha' why you're here?"

Asthar winced. "Miss Syrenne, I admit that Therius and I heard you both last night, but to be honest we were literally at a table on the other side of the restaurant and even then we could still hear you..."

Mirania blushed. "Syrenne, I told you not to be so loud! This is why I tried to persuade you not to drink last night. You're very loud when drunk.."

Lowell chuckled. "I bet Yurick was louder when I took a shower with him last night!" He exclaimed. Yurick gasped, shaking his head.

"L-Lowell, this is not—"

"And he's fucking _big! _As big as Muruk! I had no idea!"

Yurick slapped him right across the face, and Lowell yelped in panic. "NO! NOT MY HANDSOME LOOKS!"

Therius and Asthar just stared at the four others int he room with them. Therius let out a slow breath ,looking to Asthar.

"Are you sure we can't arrest them? They practically just committed sexual harassment and assault!"

Asthar shook his head, sighing. "Normally, I would say yes, but they're also helping us on the case in a way. And...more help is always nice. So I think we can just let them go for now."

"Alright."

As Therius and Asthar were talking, Mirania looked around. She looked at the vault (nothing suspicious there), then looked to the window...

And noticed some kind of scratch marks on the window frame.

"Everyone? I think I found something."

Instaneously, everyone else rushed over to look to the window. Asthar looked to the scratches.

"These scratch marks not from nails...and not from slamming down the window, either—that would make more of a dent. It could come from a grappling hook. And the door.." He looked to the door into the room. "The security guards found it unlocked. Usually it's locked. Perhaps the thief got into the building somehow, found this room, picked the lock, then opened the vault and somehow knew the correct combination to open it. After grabbing the heirlooms, he or she had a rope with a grappling hook attached to escape through the window, which is easily unlocked from the inside. This means that the thief could have been working on the inside that night, as they would know how to get in without being noticed. They'd have to know the security system extremely well to know how to get past it."

"So," Therius concluded, "Someone working _here_ was the thief. It's very possible, given the fact that the combination lock was unlocked correctly and this door was locked...and they had that grappling hook with them, too."

Yurick stared at Therius and Asthar. "Damn. That's one impressive deduction."

"Actually," Therius responded, looking to Yurick, "It's an induction, where you make a general statement from specific evidence. A deduction is the other way around."

"Er...right." Yurick frowned. "But wait, wouldn't it be hard to sneak a grappling hook into a building, even if you were one of the staff?"

Asthar nodded. "Yes, that's right. However, I also read that some of the security guards that night saw the thief and tried to catch him or her, but failed to." He looked to Therius. "We'll go interview the security guards that worked that night, now."

Therius nodded, the two leaving. "Sounds good."

Syrenne cursed. "Damn, they're already a step ahead of us! We're going after them too!" She grabbed Mirania by the sleeve, pulling her out of hte room.

Lowell grinned. "Perfect. They go do all the work for us...and we can stay here and see if there is any more evidence that might be of use to us." He looked to Yurick. "What do you say?"

Yurick nodded slowly, taking out a camera. "I'll take pictures. You look for more evidence."

"Got it!"

* * *

Dagran and Zael had decided as soon as they woke up that they were going to ask Mayor Arganan about the night the heirlooms were stolen, to see if it was any use.

Turns out as soon as they arrived that Zesha and Zepha were already there, and so the four decided that they might as well just all question Arganan at once.

What was even more interesting, however, was that Zangurak was here.

Dagran blinked. "Why are you here, Zangurak...?"

Arganan sighed. "He and I joined up to work on the case, too. End of story."

Zangurak grinned slightly as he put a device of sorts on the desk. "I recorded our entire interview together last night."

Arganan stared at him. "Wait, you...what!?"

Zesha and Zepha both merely smiled at each other. Zael just stared. "Uh...maybe we could all listen to the recording." He suggested awkwardly. "There might be something that could be important."

Everybody agreed on this, and began to listen. At first, it mostly consisted of Zangurak and Arganan talking.

Halfway through, it was obvious that at least Arganan was now thoroughly drunk. Arganan looked embarrassed, Dagran noticing the Mayor's face turn red slightly as they continued to listen.

That was when a _moan _came from the recording device, as well as the sound of kissing. Zangurak's eyes widened in alarm, and he quickly shut it off.

"Er...let's just say the interview ended there."

Zael's eyes were wide—wider than dinner plates. "S-so...did..you two actually last night..." He blubbered, but a groan from Arganan cut him off. The Mayor of Lazulis looked completely embarassed.

"Can all of you get out? Please? I need some time to...recover from such events." He managed weakly. Everyone else just simply rushed out, especially Zangurak after Arganan started shouting afterwards, and rather angrily, too.

Zepha looked to Zangurak as they left the room. "Did you actually...?" He trailed off.

Zangurak sighed, obviously annoyed as he responded. "Yes, Zepha, I did fuck him last night if that's what you mean. I get him drunk to help with the case, give him a nice hard fuck when he wants it and even breakfast in bed afterwards, and I get kicked out? This is..." He grinned slightly. "Too interesting." He finished.

_You want to play hard to get, Arganan? Then fine. I'll play along too._

* * *

Jirall did not look happy as he stared at the brothers, Zesha and Zepha. "Remind me why we're doing this interview again?" He muttered.

Calista gently nudged Jirall. "Dear, they need to know what was happening the night the heirlooms were stolen."

"Why?"

"Alibis. Proof of innocence."

"Ah, right."

Zesha and Zepha had literally run up to Calista and Jirall by 10:30 in the morning when they arrived at the city hall to go and ask them questions, to prove their alibis and such. And Jirall and Calista weren't amused, but put up with it anyway.

Zepha sighed. "So, you two were having sex at the opera, yes? And after you got out, that was when Arganan pulled you both aside and told you about the disappearance of the heirlooms?"

Calista nodded. "Yes, my uncle did pull the both of us aside and told us. We all drove straight to the city hall and checked the room where the heirlooms were kept...and they were gone."

"Hm." Zesha looked to Zepha. "I don't think we can find anything else from them. What do you think?"

Zepha shrugged. "I also doubt we can find out more here. Perhaps we should ask some of our own connections to do a little snooping..."

Jirall blinked. "Wait, you're seriously going to involve the mafia in this case?"

Zesha looked to Jirall. "Zangurak told us to try to find the heirlooms as soon as possible." He explained quiely. "If it means we need to use our own connections, we will."

Zepha frowned. "Brother, don't tell Rambaldt too much. You know we are rivals to them."

"Right." The two twins walked away as Jirall went silent, his eyebrows furrowing in throught.

Calista looked to her fiance. "Jirall? What are you thinking?"

Jirall smiled slightly as he looked to Calista. "I am one of the mafia too, Calista—a different group than Zesha and Zepha, but still." He spoke up. "Maybe I can use my own connections to find clues. If they're going to bring out the big guns, we might as well, too."

Calista frowned. "Think about it for a moment. That could easily endanger you. The Gurak mafia is notorious for actually _killing _other people. Remember when a large gang fight happened in Lazulis fifteen years ago between the Rambaldt mafia and the Gurak mafia? Your father died, and it wasn't just him that died—innocents did, too!" She hugged him from behind. "I don't want you to get hurt. I won't allow it."

Jirall looked down at Calista's arms wrapped about him, a breath escaping him.

"You might be right." He whispered, thinking back to fifteen years ago, hearing the horrified screams of his mother in his head as some mafia member told him that his father had died, shot six times.

Even if he was a member of the mafia, getting killed wasn't exactly something he'd want to do, especially over mere heirlooms.


	4. Interrogations

_**4\. Interrogations**_

"HOW ELSE CAN THE DAMNED LOCK BE OPENED OTHER THAN A COMBINATION!? TELL US NOW!"

Horace (the inventor of the vault where the Arganan heirlooms were kept) looked like he was about to pee his pants as Syrenne and Mirania walked in, ready to interrogate Horace themselves when they noticed the Gurak brothers doing EXACTLY what they planned to do.

And Syrenne didn't quite like that, so she fake-coughed loudly to get their attention.

Zesha and Zepha looked up at Mirania and Syrenne, the four kind of staring at each other.

"Hello." Zesha managed.

"Hey." Syrenne responded.

Mirania stared at the twins. "What are you two doing here?"

Zepha stared right back at her. "What are you two doing here?"

Syrenne glared at him. "Quit copying my girlfriend!" She snapped.

"Quit copying my girlfriend!" Zesha crowed mockingly, just before Syrenne backhanded him in the face. "OW!" He groaned, putting a hand to his face. "Brother, she slapped me!"

Syrenne glared back at him, tempted to slap him again but Mirania was attempting to restrain her. "You were mocking my girlfriend, you git!" She snapped.

Zepha slapped his own forehead. "Are you two just going to act like children...?" He muttered.

"WE DO NOT ACT LIKE CHILDREN!" Syrenne and Zesha yelled at once.

Mirania gasped. "Ah, wait! Settle down!"

Eventually everyone else did calm down (after being kicked out of Horace's shop) and they figured that fighting wasn't quite going to help, so they went to go discuss the case. Currently Mirania was now chomping into her third sandwich while Zesha was just kind of watching, intrigued. Syrenne and Zepha were only the real ones actually talking.

"So..." Zepha trailed off awkwardly. "Have you found anything yet?"

Syrenne shook her head. "Not much. You?"

"Nothing."

There was silence before Zepha spoke up.

"You wanna team up?"

Syrenne gave him a look. "Why should I?"

Zepha chuckled a little. "I'll give you and your girlfriend half the reward if my brother and I solve the case first."

Syrenne gave him an even more serious look. "You're sure about it? You're going to go through it if we team up?"

Zepha nodded, grinning. "Yeah. But if you and your girlfriend solve it first, you split with us. Sounds good?"

Syrenne seemed to analyze him, before she chuckled. "Yeah. Sounds good!"

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"What about now?"

"No, Zael."

Dagran sighed as he looked to Zael. Sometimes he wondered who was the more impatient between the two of them—Zael with his constant asking or Dagran himself with his lack of putting up with it for too long.

Thankfully, the two would be saved when they noticed something.

"That's Therius!" Zael pointed. "He's right there..."

"And Asthar with him." Dagran responded to Zael. "But..." He peered closer through the window of the taxi. "Who's that guy with them? Wait—that's Zoran!"

"Zoran? You mean your old friend from highschool."

"Yeah."

Dagran barely waited for the taxi to park before he rushed out of the car, rushing over to them. "Hey!" He shouted, panting a bit. "What's going on here?"

Zael gasped, getting out of his seat (after paying the taxi driver) and rushing after him. Zoran was an old friend of Dagran's, as far as Zael knew, and that was it, but they must have been pretty good friends.

Zoran chuckled as he saw them. "Well, if it isn't Pretty Boy." He spoke, grinning as he saw Dagran. "Surprised to find you here. What are you doing, helping out with the case?"

Dagran nodded. "Uh, yeah. Money's been tight this month and we kind of had no other choice."

Therius frowned, looking to Dagran. "Pardon me, but Officer Asthar and I were interrogating him."

Asthar looked to Therius, then to Dagran and Zael, then to Therius again. "It's fine, Therius. They are helping us with the case. Now," He looked to Zoran, "Would you tell us what you were doing on the night the heirlooms were stolen?"

Zoran nodded. "Yeah, I can. I was one of the security guards on shift for that night, guarding the _outside_ the building. I saw that thief dropping a rope out the window, and I got my gun out, yelling at him to stop whatever the hell he was doing! I thought, I dunno, that maybe he went and attacked someone in there."

Asthar frowned, motioning for Therius to take out some paper and write this stuff down. "What happened next?"

"So I yelled, told him to stop what he was doing and state why he was here and stuff. But then he went down the rope and I tried to aim for his shoulder...and broke the window. They're taking the cost of damages outta my paycheck now because of that. So he got down the rope, I tried chase him and restrain him 'cause I realized I'd been on my last bullet when I first shot at him, but we got into a fist fight and I got the black eye. He escaped." He winced. "Still hurts even now, honestly."

"I see." Therius then looked to Zoran after writing it all down. "Did you get a good look at the face of the person you tried to catch?"

Zoran shook his head. "Nah, I didn't. He was wearing a hood _and _a ski mask underneath, so I couldn't even see his hair or anything. But I'm pretty sure that guy was definitely a guy..."

"Hmm..." Zael looked to Dagran. "Dagran, maybe we should check out the cameras that showed this area of the Town Hall's grounds. We might find something interesting."

Dagran nodded. "Yeah. Sounds good..."

* * *

"MAFIA!"

"POLICE!"

"MAFIA!"

"POLICE!"

Therius stared. Asthar also stared. The two had been on the way back to their car when they found none other than Calista and Jirall fighting.

"Um..." Therius trailed off awkwardly. "What are you two doing?"

Jirall groaned, turning to face Asthar and Therius. "Arguing over what connections to use to catch the thief so we can get all the spoils."

Calista facepalmed herself. "Jirall, don't give it all away!" She groaned.

Jirall blushed, embarrassed. "S-sorry..."

Asthar chuckled sheepishly. "It's fine, really."

Therius blinked. "Uhh...what connections are you talking about using, if you don't mind telling us?"

Calista sighed. "It's either we run to you police people or the mafia to try to track down the crminal through such sources..."

"And it's more than obvious that we should use mafia connections," Jirall interjected, "Because then we won't bring the attention of it too much to the public."

Calista frowned. "But it'lll put you in more danger, Jirall. Do you really want that?"

"Well no, but it's better than making the crminal think that he's won by the paparazzi getting info from the police somehow and then publishing tabloids making him think he's won!"

Therius winced, watching them. "Sh-should we stop them...?"

Asthar watched carefully, shaking his head. "No, Therius. As they say, 'hell hath fury like a woman scorned' or something like that. She'll win this argument hands down."

That was when Calista glared at him, before slapping him hard in the face.

"BOSH AND TOSH! JIRALL YOU CAN BE SUCH A NINNY AT TIMES! Your life matters more than the criminal's own!" She screamed, before turning and starting to rush away.

"Huh...?" Jirall blinked, putting one hand to his face, before gasping. "Calista? Calista, wait! WAAAIITTT!" He screamed, rushing after her. "Honey, it's okay, we can use police connections...I understand how you feel."

Calista gasped, looking to him, hugging him. "R-really?" She whispered.

Jirall smiled awkwardly, hugging her in return. "Yes, dearest. Really." He responded quietly, soothingly. "I would never want you to be left alone because of something stupid I did..."

Calista smiled, giving him a peck on the lips. "Thank you, Jirall...I love you so much!"

Jirall kissed her back in response, hugging her happily. "I love you, too!"

Therius and Asthar were mentally cheering while trying to keep stoic faces at the sight of the lovey-dovey couple. Asthar was tempted to break into a happy dance, but decided against it to save himself from public embarrassment.

_SCORE ONE FOR POLICE CONNECTIONS!_

* * *

Lowell and Yurick walked through the city quietly, Yurick flipping through bunches of photos they took.

"See anything interesting?" Lowell asked, looking around.

Yurick shook his head, looking up at him. "Nope. Nothing yet besides the marks that Asthar pointed out on the windowsil...wait." He quickly flipped through more pages. "See that badge on the ground? Doesn't that belong to a security officer?"

Lowell nodded. "Yeah, it does..." He sighed. "That means a security guard was probably in there. But they shouldn't necessarily know the way to get in the safe, though. Only the Mayor and his niece would know, probably."

"True..." He then flipped to another photo. "I took some photos of the mayor's office. See how this one drawer is opened? I took a few photos of what was in the drawer, and it looks like things were messed with in there. I have a feeling that the thief dressed up as a security guard, went into the mayor's office via picking the lock, found the password to the safe in there and then went straight to the room where the heirlooms were to use the password. It's not just the heirlooms in the room by themselves—besides being a place to store them, it's also a storage room for general use, so anyone in security and other staff would have access to opening the storage room. They'd be able to get everything in the room if they wanted except for the heirlooms because of them being in the safe."

"Oh. I see..." He grinned. "So you think it's an employee who did it?" He frowned. "But...why risk their job to steal some heirlooms? How much are they even worth, anyway?"

"Probably a lot," The younger one responded, shrugging. "I wouldn't be surprised that someone would actually steal them. I bet they could make thousands off them. I think we should investigate all the staff and figure out their histories—"

"Who could have done it, then? Any ideas, Zangurak?" The two looked up to see Arganan and Zangurak walking in the opposite direction towards them, but not noticing Yurick and Lowell quite yet. Arganan and Zangurak appeared to be in deep conversation about the mystery also. On instinct, Lowell dragged Yurick into the nearby bushes to watch them.

"Well," Zangurak mused, looking around as he'd seen the blur of movement but hadn't quite seen Yurick and Lowell, "There could be people posing as detectives that actually stole the heirlooms and would 'find' them and return them to look good."

Arganan looked to Zangurak. "You...actually think so?"

Zangurak nodded. "Well, I've seen other mafia do it. Why not regular people?"

Lowell gasped, looking to Yurick. "Partner, he _knows."_

Yurick blinked, staring at him. "Knows about what?"

"About us!" Lowell grabbed him by the shoulders tightly. "He knows we're con artists and he's gonna pin the blame on us!"

Yurick winced. "Uhhh...that...can't be good."

"Of course it isn't!" Lowell was shaking his friend wildly by now. "At this rate if the mayor really suspects us he's going to drive us out of town if not throw us in jail! We'll be ruined!"

That was when they would hear Arganan speak up.

"Zangurak, I had security check all their credentials, including yours. As far as I can figure out, they're all clean..."

Zangurak groaned. "Are you sure that none of them are fake?"

Arganan gave him a look. _"Yes."_

Lowell and Yurick looked to each other, wide-eyed before they silently heaved relieved breaths.

Now they just had to solve the case before anyone found out that they were con artists.


End file.
